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This post originally ran in May 2012. We are reviving it at this time in conjunction with Bernie Sanders' call for a free public college education for all. We hope it sheds some light on why this not only isn't a radical idea, but is one deeply rooted in our nation's history. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The Center for Effective Government has published a new report, "Gaming the Rules: How Big Business Hijacks the Small Business Review Process to Weaken Public Protections." The report documents how big business has weakened public protection standards by manipulating the SBA’s Office of Advocacy that was intended to provide small businesses with input into EPA, OSHA and CFPB regulations. The report finds that this office has encouraged large industry trade associations and their big business members to participate in various roles in this process thus causing the real opinions of small businesses not to be heard.

The 2014 Midterm election had the lowest turnout in 70 years, and at least then World War II was an actual excuse for the low voter turnout. Hopefully World War III doesn't break out before the polls open up again in two years.

The only way for libertarians to convince themselves that Net Neutrality is a good idea? Convince everyone that Comcast and Verizon are cute mom and pop shops with their customers' best interests at heart.

Today, many restaurants and retail stores offer freebies and discounts to veterans. It's a generous way to say "thank you" — and also a good way to get people out shopping on their day off — but it's certainly not an adequate response to the challenges faced by our veterans.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has long been the boogeyman hiding under America's bed. The TPP, which was written to favor corporations over local domestic law with deregulations, was kept at bay by Democrats in the Senate. Unfortunately, something happened last week that significantly hurt those Dems' ability to fight the international "trade agreement" boogeyman.

Despite notable stumblings, President Obama has devoted energy towards fulfilling his open government vision and achieved some positive change. Unfortunately, even the successes of the past six years are at risk of falling by the wayside.

Election season has almost reached its costly, bitter end, but the spigot of money that runs from PACs and special interests to federal campaigns is still running. We've taken a look at where the late money is going in House races and found some incumbents in supposedly safe districts fundraising as if their races are closer than they would like them to be.

Solar energy is booming: More than half a million U.S. homes and businesses have gone solar, some 200,000 in just the last two years alone. The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that in the first half of 2014, a new solar installation went up every 3.2 minutes. That scares the hell out of the electric utilities, who have been fighting rooftop solar tooth and nail. Now, the utilities are employing a different tactic: they're simply trying to co-opt the rooftop solar business altogether.

You wouldn't have a mechanic perform your heart surgery, would you? So why is Time Magazine giving a bunch of billionaires – with no experience running schools – who want to "fix" the public education system such extensive coverage?

In the final weeks of the 2014 campaign, Democrats are increasingly reliant on super PACs and their deep-pocketed donors to underwrite their effort to maintain their Senate majority. Republicans meanwhile, have money left in the party bank and a clear advantage when it comes to dark money – funds that can't be traced to donors.

The American Red Cross is under pressure this week to answer detailed questions from Congress about the spending of nearly half a billion dollars it raised after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. But internal documents newly obtained by ProPublica and NPR call into question whether the Red Cross itself has an accurate accounting of how money was spent.

A week after their electoral victories in the 2014 midterms, Senate Republicans have already set their sights on one of their all-time favorite targets: the Environmental Protection Agency. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who will become the Senate majority leader when the 2015 Congress convenes, announced last week that one of his main goals was to “rein in” the EPA. One of the main items that McConnell has problems with is the agency’s power plant emissions standards that would cut down on the amount of allowable air pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Ahead of this year’s election, a confidential slideshow from the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC) was unearthed by In These Times writer Spencer Woodman. Its contents show the deep-rooted influence the organization has in many business sectors over a staggering number of workers. How many workers? Nearly 25 million.

What happened on Election Day? The obvious thing that happened was that Democrats got trounced. However, a very high percentage of the issues that Democrats helped put on ballots across the country — minimum wage hikes, additional taxes on incomes over $1 million, and protections for birth control — easily passed, even in districts that overwhelmingly voted for Republicans. But why?

Republican 2016 presidential frontrunner Ted Cruz has come out against Net Neutrality, comparing it to Obamacare. With a Republican controlled Congress, what could they do to back major corporations like AT&T and Verizon and stop the FCC from preserving net neutrality?

Although the U.S. political map turned significantly more red last week, the one unifying color of the midterm elections was green. Nearly $4 billion of green to be precise, given directly to candidates, funneled through political money laundering organizations, and supplied in massive lump sums by a handful of donors.

Protecting the defenseless unborn can easily be cast as a high moral purpose. The issue arises on the human scale, no complex systems involved. It concerns family relationships, and also involves the consequences of sexual behavior, on which cultural traditions have had much to say. It's the perfect issue to exploit the vote out of millions of Americans.

In a surprise ruling, a federal court will not dismiss a case contesting the constitutionality of the "no fly" list. Even more astounding is that the court forbade the administration from using the ubiquitous "state secrets" argument to get the suit thrown out.